Strong Together
by Epsarrow
Summary: Lance learns the hard way what happens when he forgets how important his two friends are to him. Will he survive or will he succumb to his own mistakes? Rated T for language, and some inappropriate references  if you squint .
1. The Value of Friends

**CHAPTER I**

**The Value of Friends**

**Note:** This is rated T for possible references to themes, and if you look closely, a bit of inappropriateness. I'll try and avoid that seeing as I hate that kind of stuff myself. There's also swearing. xD Anyway. My favourite character is Lance (and I'm a girl by the way - I've played all the games, too!) so he will be the main character in this. I do not own any of the characters/monsters or weapons and what not. Anything related to Epic Battle Fantasy is copyright to sudo07. This is purely a non-profit fanfiction. :D

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><p>"What are you <em>doing<em>?" His impatient voice seemed to resound off empty cave walls in the middle of the forest, probably alerting any nearby foes to their position. He didn't care though. The object of his anger was the orange-red haired girl in the white dress who stood in front of a furry slime. The thing had just jumped into the cave and bounced in to him, hitting Matt in the process, but when he turned his gun-blade on the white blob of slime, she was standing there blocking his shot.

"You don't have to kill him!" Natalie responded angrily, kneeling down in front of the small, quivering slime.

Lance grudgingly lowered his gun. He wasn't going to shoot her, even if she deserved it. "Him?" He echoed blankly. _Slimes_ had a gender?

"Yes, him." He couldn't believe it as he watched her begin to _pet_ the slime. It was _slime_ for goodness sakes!

"Oh, _fine_!" he muttered and turned to walk away, swinging his gun-blade over his shoulder.

"Where are you going?" Matt called after him, watching with puzzlement as Lance headed in to the forest. Lance considered ignoring him, for just a moment, but then decided he might just deserve an explanation, so he turned his head a little.

"I'm hungry," he mumbled.

He thought he heard Matt say something else, but he had already left the cave and entered the trees, and he no longer heard anything.

Sometimes, he just didn't understand Natz. She was always the one telling them they couldn't kill this or shoot that, or steal something, or eat something else. He almost rolled his eyes. It's not like they had any food to go around, seeing as all they did was save everything that wasn't on a mission to kill them. And the forest consisted of no creatures that were capable of killing them.

Matt was no better. He always catered to her every wish.

He sighed to himself. His friends were all a bit crazy and sometimes he couldn't get them.

Just as it occurred to him that he was walking alone through a dark forest, he heard a rustling sound in the bushes. He turned slowly, looking in to the trees and wondered for a moment if Matt and Natalie had followed him. They never went anywhere without each other, so it had to be both of them.

He saw nothing.

He carried on.

Then there was a flash.

He flinched as a large red laser beam struck down on his position, and he had to jump forward, rolling as he landed, to avoid getting hit. He spun to his feet, his gun ready and pointed at - an eyeball!

_What the fuck is that doing around here?_ He thought. They certainly weren't common in the forest.

He pulled the trigger, aiming a fantastic headshot at the... eyeball... and he grinned with satisfaction as it burst in midair. An easy kill. They certainly weren't a difficult foe, especially with the power of his snipe, as well as his aim. It was hard to miss anything vital in a floating eyeball, anyway.

Just as he lowered his weapon with a small, triumphant grin, something long and red whipped him across the face and sent him sprawling down on his back. He was dazed, and by the time he gathered his senses, he saw the multiple tentacles, each with an eye, all attached to the largest eye and body of a beholder.

_Fantastic_, he thought, raising his gun. It could have been anything else. But it had to be this... thing.

He now wished he hadn't left his friends. Together, they were unbeatable. But all alone, against a beholder, and already at a disadvantage of surprise, he was powerful as a slime. No one was here to watch his back this time.

He shot two rounds before a tentacle exploded from the earth and wrapped around his arm, tightening quickly and he gasped as he dropped his gun. The tentacle wrenched him forward, and he was now being held in the air by his arm as the beast slithered closer. He rapidly struggled to free himself, and with his free arm he grabbed his secondary gun and shot it at the beholder's face. Immediately the tentacle retracted and he fell to the ground, landing on his gun as he fell face first.

His breathing was harsh as he rolled over on his back, paling with horror as he saw the beholder, standing over him and bleeding from its eye.

It was definitely pissed.

Before he could react, he was lifted off the ground as a thick tentacle wrapped around his chest several times, squeezing him. His eyes bulged, and as he gulped down a breath of air, he managed to call Matt's name once before another tentacle found its way around his mouth.

_Shit,_ he thought, thrashing and fighting hard to free himself. His secondary gun had already slipped from his hands, and now he was defenseless as a third tentacle pinned his arms against his sides. The beholder slammed him in to the ground, and held him there as it attacked him. He could do nothing but writhe and trash weakly as his entire body ached with pain and he could feel tears glistening in his eyes.

His body was on fire! He felt as though he was being crushed by the creature, and he probably was, because he was no longer able to draw in a breath. His mind was too distorted to think of a way to free himself.

Why had he decided to go out here alone?

Suddenly he was lifted in to the air again. He could hardly see and his brain was fuzzy from a lack of oxygen. He was still on fire though, from head to toe, and he wondered vaguely how the monster hadn't killed him yet. He felt like he was dying.

Then, all at once, the tentacles released him and he dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes. He felt completely limp. He couldn't move an inch, except to slowly and painfully fill his lungs with air. His mind cleared for a moment and the realization of what happened hit him. He managed to move, curling into himself and cringing as he did so. His body felt strange and was tingling slowly through the fire that began to burn just a little less - but dammit! It hurt!

He coughed as he breathed, wishing he had never left; wishing he had more patience.

Was the thing gone?

He didn't have the energy to check and see. His eyes were already beginning to drift shut, succumbing to the pain and the exhaustion - at least for a little while.

Just before everything faded, he thought he saw something long and red flicker before his gaze.


	2. The Rescue Party

**CHAPTER 2**

**The Rescue Team**

**Note**: I'm gonna be switching POV's a bunch during this chapter. I'll try not to make it too choppy.

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><p>MATT<p>

When Lance had not returned for about a half hour, he began to worry. His friend would occasionally storm off some times but he always returned all happy and calm about ten minutes later. It wasn't just that which bothered Matt though... It could be dangerous out there alone and he began to wonder if Lance had gotten himself in to trouble.

The furry slime from earlier had vanished and Natz had gone back to waiting and doing nothing.

Matt began to pace back and forth around the cave, glancing irritably at the entrance every so often. His irritation came only from the worry that something had happened to Lance.

"Alright, let's go find him," he sighed.

Natz looked up immediately and nodded. "Okay," she stared shortly. Nothing else. No lightness, no joking. He was taken aback a little, but he guessed she was just feeling annoyed at her grumpy friend - or colleague, as she called him sometimes when they argued. But he knew they both cared about each other in their own stubborn ways.

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><p>LANCE<p>

He woke to a throbbing ache across his body.

It took him a long time to remember where he was and what happened, and once he did, he forced himself to open his eyes and see where he was. His vision was blurry and the pain increased ever so slightly as he opened his eyes, but he managed to see a long black shape in front of him, lying in the grass.

It took him several moments to recognize his gun.

He forced himself to release a long, heavy breath, and immediately regretted it as he felt an extreme pressure in his chest.

It quickly turned to pain.

He cried out a little, his body jerking in a weak sort of shudder.

Moving was out of the question. He was just going to have to lie there until someone found him, and hopefully that someone would be Matt and/or Natalie.

What if the monster was still there?

His paranoia grew and grew until it became nearly unbearable. He had to find out, somehow. He very slowly began to move his head, lifting his mouth out of the little pool of blood that had formed around it while he had been unconscious. As he looked, he saw a long shape on his other side, and without stopping to focus or figure out what it was, he jerked violently away before crying out in pain and slipping back in to his small, protective position.

It must be there still, watching him.

He shut his eyes tightly as he lay shaking with fear and pain.

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><p>MATT<p>

He felt like they had been walking for only ten minutes before he thought he saw something. He wasn't sure so he ignored it until-

"Matt! Watch out!" There was an explosion over his head and he dropped quickly to the ground, watching as a red tentacle burst in midair. _What the hell was that?_ He thought, then turned to see a beholder! It certainly wasn't a forest creature, so what was it doing out here?

_Unimportant_, he thought as he saw another tentacle swinging his way.

He rolled to avoid it, then ran forward and slashed it off with his sword. Natz ice spell almost caught him as she hit the eye of the beholder and it froze for a moment. Taking this as a chance to finish it off, he ran and sliced his sword multiple times through its eye. The flailing tentacles dropped to the ground, and he took that as death.

He sighed, lowering his sword and staring at the creature.

_Did it get Lance?_ It was always a struggle for these, and he was lucky that Natz had seen its sneak attack before he was struck down. If Lance had faced this creature alone, then... He began to run forward, hurrying straight through the trees.

Lance wasn't complex enough to take a zigzag or curvy path. He preferred to just go strait.

He stopped for a moment, heart thudding in his throat, and he barely recognized Natz harsh breathing behind him. There was a motionless form lying in the grass up ahead. _Is he dead_? He thought, stepping carefully over the gun he recognized as Lance's. The closer he got, the more worried he became until finally he reached his friend.

He was relieved to see his friend's chest slowly rising and falling, but was rather concerned at the violent shaking that was wracking his body. Lance's back was turned to him, so he dropped down to his knees and grabbed his friend's shoulders to turn him over.

"Lance!"


	3. The Retreat

**CHAPTER 2**

**The Retreat**

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><p>LANCE<p>

He must have zoned out, because the next thing he knew, someone or something was grabbing him by his shoulders and he felt pain rippling through him as he was turned over. He yelped weakly and was rewarded with being released.

He had no idea who was there, so part of him felt that it was the monster, returning to hurt him again. He covered his head with his arm - one of them refused to obey him - and he curled as small as he could, cringing and groaning in pain as he moved, and he waited for it to grab him again. All the while - though he was unaware of it - he muttered repeatedly "no, no, no" and wished that he would be left alone to just die.

"Lance! Lance!" An incredibly familiar voice echoed over the sounds of his own breathing and his agonized cries.

He forced himself to open his eyes, and he saw the hazy image of Matt kneeling above him with wide, shocked eyes. He couldn't figure out why the world kept spinning around him, but it only made him all the more dizzy and he groaned slowly.

"Lance? What happened? Hey, you're bleeding..." Matt's voice trailed off.

Lance blinked open his eyes for a moment. He saw Natz, looking at him with a scared expression, and he wondered how bad he really looked before he blacked out again.

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><p>MATT<p>

Matt was stunned to see Lance's violent reaction to his touch, and was even more shocked when he saw him.

The side of his face was crusted with dried blood, and a fresh stream was still trickling from his lip. He could see bruising across his face and he seemed to be struggling to breathe and wincing with every movement. He then saw a bloodstain down his left leg.

Before he could do anything more, Lance had passed out.

"Shit," he mumbled, wondering just how badly injured he was. He had to get him back to the cave, where they were safe, before he could assess his injuries. In the middle of the forest, anything could happen.

Lance was lucky he was smaller, shorter, and therefore, lighter, than Matt. Otherwise, they might have had troubles getting him back.

"Grab is guns. We might need those," he ordered a shell shocked looking Natz.

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><p>LANCE<p>

He woke up feeling as though he was being jerked up and down, like he was walking, but he wasn't the one who was walking. He wished he had the ability to cry out and say something about the pain, but his throat and tongue felt so dry that he couldn't make a sound. He could feel something warm and sticky in his mouth, but it seemed to be running down his lip.

He opened his eyes very slowly, and found himself staring at the familiar coat worn by Matt.

_What's happening?_ He wondered blearily.

He felt an extreme pain in his arm and realized Matt had slung him over his shoulder and was keeping him there by his arm... the one that didn't work, probably because it had been broken when the tentacle had lifted him from the ground by it.

As he struggled to breathe properly, he realized that it wasn't just because his chest ached and fought against him, but he found his mouth was full of blood.

He managed to raise his eyes and saw Natalie walking further ahead... carrying his guns! He felt foolishly relieved that he hadn't lot them during the fight. Shouldn't he be more worried about his own body than his stupid guns?

Natalie suddenly turned her head and looked in to his eyes.

He hadn't realized he had managed a grunt of pain, and now he struggled to inhale noiselessly.

_Can this night get any worse?_ He wondered.


	4. Hating Oneself

**CHAPTER 4**

**Hating Oneself**

**Notes: **No idea how many chapters this is gonna end up being. c:

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><p>LANCE<p>

The cold stone floor of the cavern was comforting against the fire burning inside his body, and he let himself relax against it. His eyes found themselves closing, but then he felt hands grabbing him by his neck collar. He stared up at Matt as he removed his army jacket, revealing his red tee-shirt underneath, and tried not to grimace in pain as he was moved.

His couldn't help but yelp and grab hard on to Matt's sleeve when he touched his broken arm, and there was a following silence in the cave.

He slowly forced himself to relax and then released his friend's sleeve when the pain receded slightly.

"I'm sorry," Matt mumbled genuinely and shifted away. He seemed to be very nervous which was rather unusual for him. He always seemed to know what to say during situations like these, but suddenly, he couldn't think of anything.

"Uhh... What attacked you?" Nervous, because he didn't want to know the answer?

"Be...holder..." He gasped weakly.

"Okay. Natz, can you wait outside while I check him?" His voice seemed strained. It was really growing darker in the cave. He blinked, trying to focus.

Then Matt began to feel along his chest and sides and stomache, as though searching for injuries, but the moment his hand touched him, Lance felt the burning pain intensify beyond reason and he cried out in some kind of muffled scream before blacking out.

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><p>MATT<p>

He hated himself.

Everything he did seemed to be causing his friend more pain, and it seemed the only way to help him involved him being in pain... But he couldn't stand it, and he was angry with himself for being able to do nothing about it.

He also hated that Lance had been attacked by a Beholder.. which meant...

"Okay. Natz, can you wait outside while I check him?" He looked over at her from where she stood a little ways away... looking guilty. He sighed. There was nothing he could do about that. He could take care of only one thing at a time.

When she was gone he began to feel along his friend's sides. He seemed to be having trouble breathing...

And then Lance screamed in pain, jolting violently around before he fell limp on the stone. He stared, heart thumping in his throat in disbelief.

_ What the hell did I do?_

He tore off Lance's tee-shirt while he was unconscious and gulped a bit when he saw the dark bruising across his chest and sides and stomache... It didn't look human at all because it was so bruised. Feeling a bit sick, he did the best he could to wrap his friend's ribs, and his arm.

He then moved on to find the source of the blood running down Lance's leg.

_Shit,_ he thought. _This is gonna be a long night._

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><p><em> sorry this is such a short chapter. :x i find myself unable to write much when there's little action, and i must make some things vague because of the rating and stuff. anyway. thanks for reviews! :D has anyone ever imagined EBF as a video game for XBOX or something? i had a daydream..._


	5. The Hunt Begins

**CHAPTER 5**

**The Hunt Begins**

**Notes: **Okay, so first, I'd like to apologize for how long it took me to update this... Second, I'm going to apologize for my spelling/grammar fails... I am horrible with both (though I fix anything that spell check comes up about)... I have a very cold attitude towards grammar, beyond capitalization, punctuation, and just trying to make things readable mostly because I can never get it right. xD I'm sorry if things aren't exactly perfect. May I ask what TVRopes is? And as for the magic and what not, I'm trying to "humanize" the characters / setting and stuff as much as possible... And the magic would probably just defeat the entire purpose of the story, which I might get around to explaining if I ever finished it. Anyway. Thanks for any and all reviews! :D I do promise to insert a Natz POV sometime in this chapter or the next!

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><p>MATT<p>

He was incredibly furious.

He was the team leader, the one who made all the decisions, the smart one, the one who protected them all... And he had just lost all of that be failing to protect his team member... No, his friend.

He had let his friend walk off, alone, unprotected, into the middle of the woods without a second thought, and now he was lying, seriously wounded, and Matt had his blood all over his hands. He had finished dressing and taking care of Lance's wounds, but his scarlet-stained hands were shaking violently as he stood near the entrance of the cave, gripping the rough, cold stone in his hands.

_Damnit!_ He thought furiously as he stomped out of the cave, glaring in to the trees. He completely ignored Natz who called his name, obviously concerned, and instead stared through the trees.

But as he stared, he began to think more clearly, and then he began to wonder.

_What the hell was that thing doing out here to begin with?_ It was not the Beholder's habitat... Not by a long shot.

So why was it here?

Unaware of the irony of his actions, he walked forward, finally looking to Natz, but this time all he said was: "stay here and watch over Lance. I have to go check out something. I'll be back soon," and he walked into the trees.

_Soon_ meant 'as long as it takes for me to find out what happens'.

He was going to find out why the Beholder was here, and he was going to destroy that reason and send any of them that were still around squealing for home. His hand was resting against his sword.

He was alone; angry, but he was completely alone...

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><p>NATALIE<p>

She stared after Matt, knowing better than to follow him during one of his rare 'moods'. He looked dangerous angry, and all it would take for a mistake to be made was for her to go running off after him and leaving her injured team mate behind... Despite her worry for Matt, she knew she couldn't follow him.

So instead, she turned and walked in to the cave and looked at the unconscious body on the floor and gulped.

Had she caused this?

No, not on purpose. She hadn't sent him running out in to the forest, and she hadn't known any of this was going to happen... But she couldn't help but feel responsible for having put him in such a mood, even though with his temperamental grumbling, it was a challenge to keep him happy.

Now there was dried blood crusted to his clothes and his skin had a pale, sweaty hue. His body seemed to be trembling and shaking as though from some vicious, endless dream, and his obvious was discomfort was almost too much for her to bare. She had no idea what to do. She was certain Matt had done everything to dress his wounds, but there was always that psychological effect, whatever it may be, that could not be healed by tape and bandages.

_Together we could have stopped this..._ She thought.

She sat down beside him on the floor, waiting in silence for Matt to return.

_After today, let's never split apart again._


End file.
